Take a Break with Those You Love This December

December can be a busy time for families and friends. Often people are celebrating holidays, preparing for the end of the year, and are so overwhelmed by everything that lies before them. This December we hope you have a chance to

STOP - take a step back, take a deep breath and think about you, your family, and those you love…

No matter what holidays you celebrate or activities you partake, take a moment to think about how you can spend a little more time with those who you care about.

Here are a dozen different activities to do at low or no cost with those you love:

1. An afternoon of ice skating ending with some hot cocoa with marshmallows.

2. Have a snow ball fight, build a snow man, or make snow angels (weather permitting!).

3. Take an evening walk around the neighborhood looking enjoying the beautiful sites and sounds of your neighbors.

4. Have a game night.

5. Bake some cookies together and share with others.

6. Visit with a neighbor that you know is all alone.

7. Take a walk in a local park.

8. Have a scavenger hunt - make a list of 10 things to be found (at home, in a park, wherever you chose to have the hunt), whoever finds all the items first gets to pick dinner that night!

9. Have a family camp out in the living room – move the furniture back, gather the sleeping bags and blankets and set up camp in the middle of the room. Turn out the lights, light the candles, shut off the TV, no electronics allowed tonight! Talk, tell jokes, tell stories, and make some memories.

10. Cook dinner together.

11. Volunteer as a group (there are lots of places to volunteer - nursing homes, soup kitchens, food banks, etc.).

12. Visit our local museums, galleries or winter themed events.

Hopefully at the end of the month, these are the fun things you’ll remember, not the stress, lack of sleep or the rushing around.

Happy Holidays to you and your family.

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Monthly Messages are brought to you by the Tompkins County Youth Services Department, a proud partner of The Community Coalition for Healthy Youth.

If you have further questions or comments about this message or would like information on how to become involved with the Community Coalition for Healthy Youth, please email ahendrix@tompkins-co.org

Thank you in advance for sharing this monthly message with your networks.